National Farmers

Challenges

Cattle, corn and dairy producers – commodities that most of National Famers’ members grow and raise – face significant critical barriers in achieving financial solvency. The financial loss for conventional cattle ranchers nearly doubled between 2014 and 2019 with the loss per cow increasing by more than 92 percent; conventional corn farmers experienced negative production value on their operations, and dairy producers lost $1.27 per hundredweight of milk produced in 2017 (USDA ERS). Financial and business management and marketing strategies education were identified by National Farmers as a main critical barrier impacting all farmers of these commodities – even more profoundly affecting beginning farmers and ranchers, many of whom are facing additional challenges and financial hurdles at the outset of their careers. This is because beginning farmers and ranchers often face the hurdles of land and equipment acquisition, lack of access to capital due to lack of credit history, costs of raising young families, and, student loan debt among others. National Farmers saw education, training, and technical assistance as being critical to reversing the negative financial conditions of beginning farmers and ranchers and restoring financial solvency to cattle, dairy, and grain farms and ranches operated by beginning farmers and ranchers. However, in order to provide this critical education to a significant number of producers across the multiple states, National Farmers needed additional financial resources.